Blade wheel for rotary snow plough

ABSTRACT

In a rotary snow plough, a blade wheel is positioned within a housing and is formed of a plurality of blades which, depending on the amount of snow directed into the housing, can pivot between an unloaded position and a fully loaded position. The blades are attached to pivot pins mounted in a hub fixed to a rotatable axle. The pivot pins are located radially outwardly from the axle. In the unloaded position each blade extends radially outwardly from its pivot pin and the axle. As a snow load is supplied, each blade deflects angularly about its pivot pin until it reaches its fully deflected or loaded position. Since the blades can deflect in either direction, the pivot pins of the adjacent blades act as stops for a blade when it reaches its fully loaded position.

United States Patent [19] Solo [ BLADE WHEEL FOR ROTARY SNOW PLOUGHRelated US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 15,740, March2, 1970,

abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 3, 1969 Finland 635 [52] US.Cl. 37/43 B, 302/38, 56/29 [51] Int. Cl E0lh 5/00 [58] Field of Search37/43 R, 43 A-43 L; 56/29; 302/38; 51/334 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,562,933 2/1971 l-lanneman et al..... 37/43 B 3,429,0612/1969 Haban 37/43 R 2,835,298 5/1958 Collins 56/29 X 714,978 12/1902Vogt 302/38 3,043,078 7/1962 Witt et al. 56/29 X 2,938,326 5/1960Lundell 56/29 X 1,846,459 2/1932 Romera 56/29 3,429,060 2/1969 Merry117/43 R 2,668,487 2/1954 Marihart 37/43 E 11 3,747,240 [451 July24,1973

Primary ExaminerRobert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-Eugene 1-1.Eickholt Attorney-Toren and McGeady [5 7] ABSTRACT In a rotary snowplough, a blade wheel is positioned within a housing and is formed of aplurality of blades which, depending on the amount of snow directed intothe housing, can pivot between an unloaded position and a fully loadedposition. The blades are attached to pivot pins mounted in a hub fixedto a rotatable axle. The pivot pins are located radially outwardly fromthe axle. 1n the unloaded position each blade extends radially outwardlyfrom its pivot pin and the axle. As a snow load is supplied, each bladedeflects angularly about its pivot pin until it reaches its fullydeflected or loaded position. Since the blades can deflect in eitherdirection, the pivot pins of the adjacent blades act as stops for ablade when it reaches its fully loaded position.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEUJULZMBTS INVENTOR Esko Solo 1 BLADEWHEEL FOR ROTARY SNOW PLOUGH This is a continuation of application Ser.No 15,740 filed Mar. 2, 1970 now abandoned.

Since rotary snow ploughs are attached either at the front or the backof the vehicle, depending on the vehicle type, and rotary snow ploughswith fixed blades thus involve the use of a rotary movement in eitherdirection of its blade wheel, it has in recent times become relativelycommon to use blade wheels with blades consisting of flexible material.Thereby the blades are capable of flexible displacement from theirradial unloaded position in either direction depending of the rotationaldirection, the degree of said displacement being dependent not only onthe quality of the blade material but also on the load. It has howeverbeen found that flexible blades are not capable of throwing pebbles orhard snow lumps far enough from the road being ploughed. If the bladeson the other hand are made of a material of substantial rigidity, it hasbeen found that breakage readily tends to occur at the point ofattachment of the blades.

This invention relates to a blade wheel of the above type, i.e., havingblades capable of diplacement in either direction from their radialunloaded position, and is characterized in that each blade is freelyrotatably mounted on a hub about its respective pivot pin disposed inthe axial direction with respect to the blade wheel axle, the peripheryof the hub preferably being formed with limit stops defining the extremepositions of the blades.

The novel feature of the invention, i.e., that the blades are mounted onthe hub freely rotatably in either direction, provides an obviousadvantage in that breakages at the attaching end of the blades areavoided even although the blades when desired can be made rigid enoughto throw pebbles and lumps far enough from the road. A further advantageprovided by the invention is that a blade, which at full load rotationof the blade wheel is swung to either of its extreme positions, receivesadditional support from the peripheral surface of the hub, or from thelimit stops attached to the hub, and thus does not easily break.

An embodiment of the invention is shown by way of an example in theaccompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of theblade wheel and FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the same The bladewheel is intended to be mounted in a conventional housing, not shown,provided with tangential outlets. I

In the drawing reference No. 1 refers to a blade wheel axle having a hubonto which is fixedly mounted a hub. In the embodiment shown the hubconsists of two flanges 2 and 3 interconnected by means of four pins 4about which the respective blades 5 are rotatable, or alternatively thepins 4 are attached at the extreme positions 5', where they aresupported against the pivot pin of the adjacent blade. If swung in theopposite direction, they will be supported against the inner edges ofthe vanes and rotatable in their respective apertures provided in theflanges 2 and 3.

When the axle rotates, the blades 5 assume the substantially radialpositions indicated by the lines 6. As the blade wheel is loaded, inother words,'as a snow jet is passed into the same in substantiallyaxial direction from the right in FIG. 2, and the rotational directionof the axle 1 is that indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1, the blades willswing about the pin 4 in the opposite direction, assuming for examplethe positions indicated by the .lines 5, the positions being defined bythe load. At full load the blades however will swing as far as theirpivot pin of the adjacent blade at the opposite side.

It is to be appreciated that the hub can have other forms than thatshown in the drawing. Thus the hub may consist of a continuous bearingbushing having lugs into which the pivot pins are mounted. If it isdesired to limit the rotational angle of the blades so that the bladewill not bear against the pivot pin of the adjacent vane, suitable limitstops may be formed in the hub surface between the pivot pins.

The forward edges of the blades are provided with transverse plates 7,the object of which is to break snow lumps and similar objects directedtoward the blade edges. Adjacent their free edges the blades can inaddition be provided with curved additional vanes or troughs, previouslyknown per se, for lifting snow and directing it via the blades into theoutlet.

I claim:

1. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough for throwing snow from theplough, comprising a rotatable axle, a hub fixed to said rotatable axleand extending radially outwardly therefrom, a plurality of blades, pivotmeans for attaching each of said blades to said hub at positions spacedradially outwardly from said axle and with the pivot axes disposed inparallel relationship with said axle, the pivot attachment positions ofsaid blades to said hub being spaced angularly apart, each of saidblades having a leading edge facing in the direction in which snow isfed to said blades and a trailing edge, a flat first blade portionhaving a pair of oppositely facing surfaces extending outwardly fromsaid hub and extending between said leading and trailing edges, saidflat blade portion having a width extending in the axial direction ofsaid axle approximately equal to the axial dimension of said hub andextending parallel to the axis of said pivot means thereof and having alength considerably greater than the distance between adjacent saidpivot means, each of said blades is freely rotatable in both directionsabout its pivot attachment position and is pivotally displaceable due toits pivotal attachment to said hub between an unloaded position in whichit extends radially outwardly from said hub to a loaded position whensnow is directed against one of the surfaces of said flat first bladeportions so that said blade pivots about its pivotal attachment to saidhub out of the radially outwardly extending position toward said pivotmeans at the pivot attachment position of the adjacent said blade in theopposite direction to which said blade is rotating so that whensupported by the adjacent said pivot means said blade is in its fullyangularly deflected position, and means secured to the leading edge ofsaid blades for breaking snow lumps and the like directed toward theleading edge.

2. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough, as set forth in claim 1,characterized in that said means secured to the leading edge of saidblades comprises a flat second plate portion secured along and extendingtransversely of the leading edge of said first plate portion, saidsecond plate portion extending outwardly from each of the opposite flatsurfaces of said flat first plate portion.

3. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough, as set forth in claim 1,characterized in that said hub has a polygonally shaped configuration ina plane normal to said rotatable axle, said pivot means for said bladescomprising a pivot pin for each said blade, each said pin being in claim3, characterized in that said hub comprises a pair of axially spacedradially extending discs each having a similar polygonally shapedperipheral configuration and each of said pivot pins being securedadjacent its opposite ends into said discs.

1. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough for throwing snow from theplough, comprising a rotatable axle, a hub fixed to said rotatable axleand extending radially outwardly therefrom, a plurality of blades, pivotmeans for attaching each of said blades to said hub at positions spacedradially outwardly from said axle and with the pivot axes disposed inparallel relationship with said axle, the pivot attachment positions ofsaid blades to said hub being spaced angularly apart, each of saidblades having a leading edge facing in the direction in which snow isfed to said blades and a trailing edge, a flat first blade portionhaving a pair of oppositely facing surfaces extending outwardly fromsaid hub and extending between said leading and trailing edges, saidflat blade portion having a width extending in the axial direction ofsaid axle approximately equal to the axial dimension of said hub andextending parallel to the axis of said pivot means thereof and having alength considerably greater than the distance between adjacent saidpivot means, each of said blades is freely rotatable in both directionsabout its pivot attachment position and is pivotally displaceable due toits pivotal attachment to said hub between an unloaded position in whichit extends radially outwardly from said hub to a loaded position whensnow is directed against one of the surfaces of said flat first bladeportions so that said blade pivots about its pivotal attachment to saidhub out of the radially outwardly extending position toward said pivotmeans at the pivot attachment position of the adjacent said blade in theopposite direction to which said blade is rotating so that whensupported by the adjacent said pivot means said blade is in its fullyangularly deflected position, and means secured to the leading edge ofsaid blades for breaking snow lumps and the like directed toward theleading eDge.
 2. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough, as set forth inclaim 1, characterized in that said means secured to the leading edge ofsaid blades comprises a flat second plate portion secured along andextending transversely of the leading edge of said first plate portion,said second plate portion extending outwardly from each of the oppositeflat surfaces of said flat first plate portion.
 3. Blade wheel for arotary snow plough, as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that saidhub has a polygonally shaped configuration in a plane normal to saidrotatable axle, said pivot means for said blades comprising a pivot pinfor each said blade, each said pin being supported in and locatedadjacent the periphery of said hub, and each said pin being located in aplane extending radially outwardly from the center line of said axle andpassing through the intersection of a pair of the peripheral sides ofsaid hub.
 4. Blade wheel for a rotary snow plough, as set forth in claim3, characterized in that said hub comprises a pair of axially spacedradially extending discs each having a similar polygonally shapedperipheral configuration and each of said pivot pins being securedadjacent its opposite ends into said discs.